NE Ohio air getting cleaner; tougher regulations to follow

Northeast Ohio residents can breathe a little easier. The air over the region is becoming cleaner.

The cheering likely will be short-lived, however, as more restrictive standards are almost certain to come.

The clean air bar is always being raised, the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency says.

The Ohio EPA has notified its federal counterpart that eight counties in the Cleveland-Akron-Lorain area and six in the Columbus area have reached attainment of the national health-based, eight-hour outdoor air quality standard for ozone, or smog.

Advertisement

Among those achieving current attainment standards are Lake, Geauga, Cuyahoga, Ashtabula and Lorain counties.

The federal EPA says complete, quality-assured, outdoor air monitoring data from these counties for 2006 through 2008 show attainment based on current standards.

"We had said earlier this year that these areas are meeting the old standards, which were set in 1997. The air quality is improving in Northeast Ohio," said Heidi Griesmer, Ohio EPA spokeswoman.

Griesmer said new, more restrictive ozone standards are being established by the federal government and are expected to be designated in March 2010. About 31 Ohio counties, including those in Northeast Ohio, likely will fail to meet these more restrictive air quality standards, Griesmer said.

"We don't know yet if this means there will be more pollution controls to meet the new standards or not. We'll know that over the next few years after the counties have been identified and plans are made.

"What we do know is that the U.S. EPA is proposing a recognition that we are meeting the old standards but that we need to keep the current pollution controls and monitoring in place at least."

The federal EPA also has proposed to approve Ohio's plan to meet the eight-hour health-based ozone standard through 2020 and to approve motor vehicle emissions budgets included in the plan.

Griesmer said this means Ohio will continue to need some form of vehicle emissions testing in those areas with high ozone levels.

The public has through July 13 to comment on the proposed actions and can do so at www.regulations.gov.